UK's Cameron to face inquiry over Murdoch ties

LONDON - British Prime Minister David Cameron and his finance minister George Osborne will face accusations they bent government policy to support media baron Rupert Murdoch when they appear at a high-profile inquiry into press ethics next week.

The two most senior members of the government will appear in courtroom 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice in what is certain to be another dramatic week for an inquiry that has revealed collusion between politicians and the Murdoch media empire.

Former prime ministers Gordon Brown and John Major will also testify, along with Labor leader Ed Miliband, deputy Labor leader Harriet Harman and Nick Clegg, the head of the Liberal Democrat junior party in the government coalition.

The scandal has damaged Cameron by creating an image of a leader who surrounded himself by a small clique of wealthy members of the media elite promoting their own interests.